Then Moss began to disappear off the radar, with an occasional lightning strike obscuring a pattern of disuse in the red zone.

That was followed by the LaMont Jordan issue, with Norv not getting his feature back enough carries until facing Dallas in Week 4.

After the Raiders stunk it up following the bye week vs. San Diego — when old Norv had two weeks to dial up some big plays — you’d have thought the Oakland coach wasn’t worthy of calling plays for the Pop Warner San Leandro Crusaders.

The Raiders’ resurgence the past two weeks underscores an important point about coach Norv Turner and the selection of plays.

Play-calling is one of the most overrated aspects of offensive football, dwarfed by the ability to execute the plays that are called.

In the San Diego debacle, it wasn’t so much that Turnercalled the wrong plays as he brought in a team that for whatever reason didn’t seem ready to play.

Far too much is made of “geniuses” and play-calling wizards, when the men who get those labels should instead be lauded for coaching precision and detail during the week.

It wasn’t as if opponents had no idea what Bill Walsh was going to do with the San Francisco 49ers. Their M.O. was fairly consistent — throw the playbook at the opposition in the first half with an array of ball-control passes and then run the ball with traps and sweeps to control the game in the second half.

Where Walsh made the difference was getting those teams to beat their foes to the punch, to do things quickly and as close to perfect as possible.

Every coach, armchair coach and fantasy coach knows the Denver Broncos will use trap and cut blocking to run consistently downhill and then strike with bootlegs and play-action.

Indianapolis may have the best offense in the NFL, and offensive coordinator Tom Moore doesn’t even call plays. He gives Peyton Manning a few to keep in mind, and then Manning chooses the best one after looking over the defense.

A good offensive coach devises a philosophy to move the ball and matches his personnel to that system.

Some Raiders fans never warmed to Jon Gruden’s style of offense, which including constant shifting and motion but always seemed designed for a gain between 4 and 10 yards.

It could be excruciating to watch. But the Raiders were detailed, well-drilled, and it allowed them to win games.

Give the 32 play-callers in the NFL a consistent 4 or 5 yards on first down and watch them prosper.

Put them in a series of first-and-15s, first-and-20s and consistently bad down and distance and get ready for punts and turnovers. Penalties that bring those situations are also the responsibility of a head coach.

The Raiders have managed to keep a lot of the calls for holding, false starts and illegal motion in check the past two weeks, and — surprise — they’re moving the ball better.

It’s not as if quarterback Kerry Collins offers unlimited options for a playbook.

Any plays that call for designed rollouts to the right or left, or for the quarterback to take off on any designed run other than a sneak, are essentially useless.

Collins tends to be on target for a few series and then off the mark the next. It makes for an occasional spate of three-and-outs while the Raiders wait for Good Kerry to overcome Bad Kerry. It’s something they can live with as long as he avoids passes like the one he threw against Tennessee that Reynaldo Hill ran 52 yards for a touchdown.

For the most part, Collins has done that.

The point is, Turner can call the perfect play at the perfect time, and it won’t matter if the pass sails high and away or a receiver drops the ball.

How the Raiders will attack an opponent won’t come as a surprise to anyone. They’ll run the ball inside, use play-action to go deep and use Collins’ arm strength for sideline routes and passes in the 15- to 18-yard range.

Jordan will be the primary receiver on screens and dump-offs. Turner will throw in the occasional reverse to keep things interesting.

The sequence of those plays is an issue worth debating, but not nearly as important as their execution.

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